Gundam Best Games
Sadoth Royer
Toonami was a block of time every day when Cartoon Network would show nothing but Japanese animation. For countless North America viewers, it was the first time a lot of them had really been exposed to anime in any substantial way. There had always been people who enjoyed it, but Toonami changed the game. It went from being a hard-to-find niche product to after school cartoons that kids and teenagers could watch every day.
Riding that wave of hobbyist success, the series eventually grew into a cultural icon. The original TV series, following a rag tag group of child conscripts piloting giant robots in a devastating future war, was recut into three movies; all of which were hits at the box office. The decades since have seen countless sequels, mini-series, movies, and spin-offs.
Gundam Wing falls into the spin-off category. While it follows many of the same themes as the original 1979 series, it takes place in a different universe and follows a different conflict. The story? After years of struggle, humanity has reached the stars and...
And it did! Gundam Wing was an enormous hit for Cartoon Network. There was a period of time, in fact, when Gundam Wing was the most popular show on the channel. It led to countless toy and model kit sales. Most importantly, it launched the wider Gundam franchise as a popular property in North America.
The best Gundam shows are usually built around a strong central theme. The original 1979 series is as much an anti-war political drama as it is a giant robot show. More recent shows like Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury explore issues like corporate greed, the exploitation of child labor, and generational trauma.
Some of this is because Gundam Wing has an expansive cast of characters and factions. You have the five main Gundam pilots, each with their own boy band-style personality and problems. You also have the Earth Sphere Alliance, the OZ organization, the space colonies, the Sanc Kingdom, the Romefeller Foundation, the Treize Faction, and the White Fang rebels. Each faction has its own cast of characters who, in turn, have their own goals, none of which have enough time to be fully fleshed
out.
Honestly? The most consequential character in Gundam Wing is the
narrator. The show is full of twists and turns, many of which start up with an
omnipotent voice saying While this was going on, these guys over here were doing
this! And now the world has changed again!"
Lastly, the show makes masterful use of its musical score. Gundam Wing actually only has a handful of songs -composed by Kow Otani- at its disposal, but it never fails to employ them perfectly. The music Otani wrote for Gundam Wing ranges from somber and emotional to energetic and intense. Countless scenes that would be melodramatic or silly stick the landing because they hit the music hits the right note.
Gundam Wing is not the best Gundam series. Not by a lot, in fact. Even with its problems, however, Gundam Wing accomplished something unique from all the other entries in its franchise. It opened an entire audience to a universe that previously been closed to them.
The Gundam series, created in 1979 by Yoshiyuki Tomino, is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. It's estimated to have generated a total of $20 billion. It spawned over a dozen anime series, movies, manga, and video games, and an entire industry of plastic Gundam models known as Gunpla. Gunpla, on its own, makes up 90 percent of Japanese character plastic-model sales.
Gundam is also responsible for the modern understanding of "giant robot" mecha anime. It was an inspiration for many other series to come out of both the East and West. Gundam has many beloved anime series in its canon, but some are better than others.
Gundam F91 is an experience every Gundam fan should check out at least once. Originally intended to be a full series, production was condensed into a single movie because of creative disputes. Despite some rushed plotting, the gorgeous '90s animation makes this a film everyone needs to see. That said, because the story is so condensed, it can't rank any higher.
Gundam AGE presents a Gundam adventure where a universal peace gets interrupted by the Unknown Enemy (U.E). Flit Asuno, one of the victims of the U.E, receives given a family heirloom, an AGE device memory unit. The device allows Flit to build a mobile suit that can help the colonies survive further attacks.
What makes Gundam AGE different is it focuses on three time periods. When viewers first meet Asuno, he's a kid. Later, once the suit is built, an adult Asuno pilots it to help save humanity. In the last part, viewers see the protagonist as a great-grandfather. On top of the interesting story, the character designs are some of the best in the franchise.
On orders from the Federation, Bright Noa sends out Amuro Ray and some allies to check out a mysterious island that no Federation soldier has ever returned from. The mission goes wrong, leaving Gundam pilot Amuro Ray trapped while the rest of his friends return to White Base. To survive, Amuro must learn to get along with the children of the island, and their caretaker, Cucuruz Doan.
While it was the sixth installment in the overall Gundam franchise, Gundam Wing is probably the first exposure most people in the US had to the series. It found much greater success there than in Japan and was the entry that popularized Gundam in the West.
Gundam Wing's writing and pacing might not stand up to either the more classic Gundam series or the more polished anime that followed, but it remains a favorite of many American fans. Gundam Wing belongs on any Gundam fan's must-watch list.
Gundam SEED was a modern attempt to take everything that worked from the popular Gundam Wing and the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and turn it into a modern classic. While it didn't quite hit the heights of the original Gundam, it was still a commendable effort.
The sequels to SEED in particular, miss the mark entirely. However, Seed itself remains a triumph in animation, and it's a great place for new fans looking for a standalone entry. In the end, there's no better way to immerse oneself in Gundam lore than to dive right in.
In the far future of the Correct Century timeline, Earth is considered completely uninhabitable. Instead, much of humanity lives on the moon, checking on Earth periodically to see if it's safe to return. A member of the Moonrace, Loran Cehack, comes to Earth initially as a spy, but comes to enjoy spending time with humans there. When other members of the Moonrace arrive at Earth, Loran has to rely on the power of one of the most powerful Gundams, the Turn A, to protect the planet.
Gundam ZZ might take some getting used to for fans of the Universal Century. The series starts out considerably more comedic than the dour Zeta Gundam, even having an opening episode featuring a fight with oranges. However, the comedy gives way to a more serious show in the latter half, and seeing Judau forced to grow up to protect his friends makes the series that much better.
6. When you are spray painting, you want to hold the spray bottle and Gunpla parts far away from yourself in order to avoid inhaling the fumes. You also want to hold the spray bottle and the Gunpla part about six inches apart from one another.
Well at least the price is sometimes worth it for the Mr brand paints and tools. If you ever need a cheaper alternative, the testors brand works too, though some hobby shops do carry the MR brand of sprays, Tamiya matte spray is really great as well.
Hi, Milky. To be honest I have no idea. I know naught of Gundam. I just know that Lauren and her husband have made a hobby of building Gunpla for some time now and it seems to me that it is worth giving it a go.
Hi, I have a question regrading the mr gundam blues for painting and touching up my Goufs and Gouf customs. They only offer two blues and both Goufs each have two different shades equaling four shades altogether. Has anyone used the blues offered by Mr, and which Gouf do they best resemble?
Can you use a matte top coat instead of a gloss coat before using a panel wash? I ordered some tamiya panel line accents off amazon and i am worried that the kit may get brittle if i used it on the bare plastic.
I know this is old but its important. YES the mat varnish will make the shiny eye stickers flat. You need to cut a small piece of blue painters tape and cover any area that you do not want to be matt finished. It is best to spray the model BEFORE putting the shiny metallic stickers on. Other decals should be put on first and then sprayed. The varnish will help keep the decals from rubbing off.
Great question, for decals while it CAN be applied to kits that already have a matt coat, its reccomended to do it straight on the plastic or on a gloss coat as the surface must be smooth for them to apply, even dry transfer decals. You may be able to get away with waterslides due to the way they are designed but its best to have a smooth surface first.
The Gundam franchise spans multiple subseries and spin-offs, a handful of which are often held up as being the best of the best. These have stood the test of time best, and are often referenced and brought up by fans as examples. Even if personal opinion varies, one cannot dispute the influence and quality these shows added to the reputation of the franchise.
The various anime range from the dramatic, the blatantly toyetic, and the obscure. The most fondly regarded, however, tend to put a spin on themes set by the original series: the cruelty of war, the conflict between social classes, and the question of how humanity will adapt to outer space. These shows have carried on the legacy of Tomino's classic through their respective decades, showing how timeless Gundam is.
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